FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: BEARCATS! (1971)

BEARCATS! (1971) – This unique action-adventure series was set in the American West of 1914 and starred Rod Taylor (who also produced) and Dennis Cole as renowned trouble-shooters who commanded huge fees for their services. “If you can put a price on it, you don’t need them badly enough” was the program’s tagline.

This short-lived series cleverly used the mix of past and present in America’s southwestern states in that time period as cars and biplanes began sharing the scenery with horses and carriages. Part Wild, Wild West and part Diesel-Punk, the stories featured the two leads clashing with villains who often used primitive tanks and other “futuristic” devices.

The Bearcats named themselves after the Stutz Bearcat automobile they rode around in.

PILOT MOVIE: POWDERKEG (April 16th) – Mercenary trouble-shooters Hank Brackett (Rod Taylor) and Johnny Reach (Dennis Cole) are hired by a railroad tycoon to rescue 73 hostages being held aboard a moving train. Their captors are led by a Mexican bandit chief who demands his brother’s release from prison in exchange for the hostages. Guest stars were Michael Ansara, Fernando Lamas, Luciana Paluzzi and Tisha Sterling. 

EPISODE ONE: THE DEVIL WEARS ARMOR (September 16th) – The Bearcats are hired to stop a gang of bank robbers who travel from town to town using a stolen 1914 prototype tank to carry out their thefts. John Vernon, Kathleen Lloyd (as a nun), Sherry Bain and Paul Koslo guest starred.

EPISODE TWO: GROUND LOOP AT SPANISH WELLS (September 23rd) – Hank and Johnny’s latest client – the United States government – wants them to take on what seems like a troop of renegade American soldiers who keep raiding Mexican towns the way Pancho Villa sometimes raided U.S. towns. It turns out the “soldiers” are really impersonators hired by Kaiser Wilhelm’s German government to start a war between America and Mexico.

        Henry Darrow played fictional pioneer biplane aviator Raoul Esteban, a recurring guest character on Bearcats! Also appearing were Lenore Stevens and Tom Simcox.       

EPISODE THREE: DOS GRINGOS (Sept 30th) – More trouble with Mexico in this episode. A hired assassin (Eric Braeden) is at large in the U.S. on a mission to kill a revolutionary raising funds to bring down the current Mexican government. Catherine Ferrar guest starred.  

EPISODE FOUR: THE FEATHERED SERPENT (Oct 7th) – Hank and Johnny are hired to head deep into Central America to stop an army of criminals posing as indigenous rebels who want to take back their land. In truth, they use that cause as an excuse to pillage and plunder. Katherine Justice guest starred along with perennial villain Henry Silva. 

EPISODE FIVE: THE HOSTAGE (Oct 14th) – American outlaw Joe Bascom (David Canary) leads his gang in taking a town priest hostage. Bascom’s father was tried and hanged by the town and he demands that they hang one of their own citizens to get the priest set free. A very young girl (Erin Moran herself) gets Hank and Johnny to work pro bono to save the day. Ed Flanders appears.

EPISODE SIX: CONQUEROR’S GOLD (Oct 28th) – Stylish villain Carter Gladstone (Kevin McCarthy) and his men commandeer an archeological dig. They’re not after relics, they’re after the gold associated with the site’s El Dorado-style legend. Jane Merrow played a reporter whose newspaper hires Hank and Johnny to take down the bad guys. Future Lethal Weapon director Richard Donner directed this episode. 

EPISODE SEVEN: BLOOD KNOT (Nov 4th) – An oil company hires the Bearcats to determine who is really sabotaging their oil wells. Townspeople blame Native Americans but our heroes prevent a war from breaking out by corralling the real perpetrators. Leslie Parrish, H.M. Wynant and X Brands guest starred. 

EPISODE EIGHT: ASSAULT ON SAN SABA (Nov 11th) – Agent Schiller (Bruce Glover), a German spy, has seized control of San Saba Prison in Texas in order to recruit its deadliest criminals as operatives for Kaiser Wilhelm’s plans against the United States. Hank and Johnny are hired to raid the prison before those plans can be completed. Guest stars included Edward Faulkner. 

EPISODE NINE: BITTER FLATS (Nov 18th) – A wealthy rancher (Keenan Wynn) is secretly mining tungsten on his land and selling it to other countries for more than he could get for it in America. The rancher kills a U.S. soldier investigating him and the Bearcats are hired to deal with his illegal operation.  Kathy Cannon and Rockne Black Samson Tarkington guest starred while Richard Donner again directed.

EPISODE TEN: TIGER, TIGER (Nov 25th) – The Bearcats are hired to stop foreign spies led by Tiger Thompson (Morgan Woodward) who are sabotaging medical supplies being purchased from the neutral United States by the Allied Powers in war-ravaged Europe. Walter Brooke, Judith Brown and Betty Anne Reese guest starred.

EPISODE ELEVEN: THE BIG GUNS (Dec 2nd) – Renegade Colonel Ted Donovan (Leslie Nielsen) leads a gang of army deserters in stealing two experimental weapons in order to attack a military convoy transporting munitions. Hank and Johnny are called into action. Also starring were George Murdock and Morgan Paull. 

EPISODE TWELVE: THE RETURN OF ESTEBAN (Dec 23rd) – William Smith plays an ex-convict who has assembled a gang to raid and massacre a mining town. Daring pilot Raoul Esteban returns and helps Hank and Johnny stop the villains. Kathryn Hays and Brioni Farrell guest starred. 

EPISODE THIRTEEN: MAN IN A CAGE (Dec 30th) – In this final episode of Bearcats!, Johnny works to free Hank and an abducted gubernatorial candidate (John Anderson) from the mercenaries who hold them captive. Guest starred Jeremy Slate and Luke Askew.   

*** And that was it for this series, unfortunately. Overseas it was much more popular than it had been in America and the pilot film Powderkeg was released theatrically in Europe. Part of the Bearcats! legacy includes inspiring the short-lived 1972 cartoon series Houndcats, which was a hybrid of this program and Mission: Impossible. 

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